Attorney General Nominee Wants Justice To Investigate Clinton, Not Trump

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Earlier this morning, President Trump nominated William Barr to be his next attorney general. Barr previously served in that same role under George H.W. Bush.

But don’t be fooled into thinking that Barr’s past experience means he’ll be an adult in the room and provide a check on Trump. Barr has already made outrageous public statements that show he is entirely in line with Trump’s way of thinking.

Although Barr might not have as tawdry or shady a past as acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker, he’s just as committed to baselessly accusing Hillary Clinton of crimes while blithely dismissing any of Trump’s wrongdoings.

Last year, the New York Times asked ten former attorneys general if they’d be willing to comment on whether the Justice Department should open an investigation into the Uranium One deal that occurred when Clinton was secretary of state.

All of them declined to respond, save for Barr, who said he saw more basis for investigating that deal than in looking into the Trump campaign’s collusion with Russia.

This isn’t the only time Barr has backed Trump’s outrageous position that the DOJ should be going after his political rivals. After Trump publicly demanded that the Justice Department open a criminal investigation into Hillary Clinton, Barr came forward to claim that “there are things that should be investigated that haven’t been investigated.”

Back in May 2017, Barr penned an op-ed backing Trump’s decision to fire former FBI director James Comey. He even endorsed the ludicrous fiction that Trump fired Comey because of Comey’s handling of the Hillary Clinton email server investigation rather than the real reason, which is that Comey had refused to look the other way regarding Michael Flynn.

Barr also thinks that Mueller is obliged to police the political donations of the prosecutors he employs and thinks there should be more “balance” in the group. While that isn’t quite as bad as Trump calling the prosecutorial team “13 hardened Democrats,” it still isn’t a good look.

In a lot of ways, it looks like Barr has been auditioning for this job for quite some time. He’s consistently made high-profile statements signaling his approval for Trump’s actions.

Given Trump’s very public loathing of Jeff Sessions for recusing himself from the Russia investigation, it’s easy to believe that Trump picked Barr precisely because he thought Barr would meddle in — or shut down — Mueller’s investigation.

And given his public proclamations, there’s no reason to think that Barr won’t do just that.